Marsden: Wildrose leader presents an appealing pipe dream

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith has answered her critics who say all the party does is criticize the government. Speaking in Vancouver on Thursday, Smith pitched the idea of a dedicated industrial corridor that would span from Northern Ontario to the West Coast.

The strength of her suggestion is that it would eliminate the need for individual pipeline companies to navigate the burdensome regulatory process. Once the one-kilometre-wide route was established, it would hasten the approval of projects that have run into growing opposition from environmentalists and aboriginal groups.

“Rather than have industry come up with a multitude of ideas, proposals and routes that would ultimately wind up in a series of endless hearings, politicians would take the lead and settle as many issues as possible in advance,” Smith told her audience.

Canada has traditionally left pipeline companies to the vagaries of the system, which as we’ve seen with Enbridge’s Northern Gateway application, can be vexing. Even with the National Energy Board recommending the project’s approval, subject to 209 conditions, opponents have vowed to bury the pipeline in lawsuits and demonstrations if the federal government gives it its blessing — a decision that is expected by Tuesday.

The beauty of Smith’s proposal, is that it would require the federal government to play a larger role in negotiating with provincial governments and First Nations. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has often spoken of the need to create new markets for our energy beyond the United States, so it shouldn’t be a stretch for the government to step up its game. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has panned the Northern Gateway route, but spoken in favour of energy exports generally, so he shouldn’t have a problem in spearheading negotiations if he forms government in 2015.

The rub, of course, is that Smith’s proposal, assuming First Nations can be persuaded to support the corridor, deals with only one barrier to pipeline projects — the route. Another is greenhouse gas emissions, which is the reason TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline finds its northern leg languishing in the United States. The oilsands has unjustifiably become a target for environmentalists and there are many who will oppose the movement of bitumen, west, east or south. The fact there is an approved corridor in place will mean nothing to climate change dogmatists who ignore the necessity of energy to our modern way of living.

Perhaps a bigger concern is British Columbians’ reluctance to see more tankers plying the West Coast. They’ve done so for decades, of course, with no problems, but again, powerful forces will fight an increase in the number of tanker movements to and from Asia. No amount of safeguards and assurances will silence the vitriol of some critics.

A final shortcoming of Smith’s proposal is its inflexibility — it would determine the course of not only pipelines, but also utilities and transportation for now and ever more. A dedicated corridor could only arrive at one terminus, after all. If it ends up in the Lower Mainland, as does Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, residents are sure to oppose more projects running through a densely populated region — just as they’re fighting the twinning of Kinder Morgan’s line. If the corridor stops near Kitimat, critics will continue to complain about tankers passing through narrow Douglas Channel and the despoiling of wilderness areas.

But good for Smith for putting forward a concrete, if incomplete, solution to the stalemate over pipelines. Some people have said after the fact that such a corridor was already being discussed, but it was the Wildrose leader who gave it voice, and in doing so, has probably done more for pipelines in one day than Alison Redford did with her much-vaunted Canadian energy strategy.

David Marsden is a member of the Herald editorial board.

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